Carrion Crown

Serafina's Journals

An ongoing account of her notes and the events that transpire...

4

APR/16

1st of Lamashan

A most wretched little man riled up several of the townspeople accosted those of us in the funeral procession as we made our way with Lorrimor’s body to the grave site… I must say the spectacle they made could not have been any cruder, lest they had all been naked and painted like a bunch of barbarians. And when I say accosted, I mean that they had their torches and pitchforks and were going to “slay the beasties”, it was like some story I tell you!

Thankfully I managed to help the poor peasants see the light before we all were forced to take action against them. What are a few simple peasants with rocks going to do against four practiced adventurers? I mean really…

It is however, worth mentioning that they were all agitated about some events that seem to have been transpiring since the sad and untimely accidental death of my old friend. I have to wonder if he was somehow responsible for keeping their spirits high and their suspicions low…

His daughter is certainly a sweet one, very saddened by her father’s death, as one would expect. His will left myself and three others responsible for some interesting books he had in his possession, as well as for looking after his daughter for the next thirty days. Apparently, he would also like us to follow up on the research he was conducting at Harrowstone when he died… Though what he really expects us to find there that a man of his experience and knowledge did not is beyond me…

After that, we are to return the books to the University in Lepidstadt and then from there I suppose I go back to my home and perhaps visit darling V again… Only a month away from his cold embrace and the sweet sting of his kiss and already I ache to back….

I hope that I can keep my budding interests in the darker arts from the eyes of my companions of the next thirty plus days. I also hope I do not find myself having to share a room with any of them at night. I can’t imagine they would be very pleased with the prayers I must conduct. Though V surely did not seem to mind…

2nd of Lamashan

We awoke this morning to a grisly discovery. Te memorial to those who lost their lives in Harrowstone had been splashed with blood and gore, spelling out the letter V large enough for anyone to see. After taking a moment to converse with my new companions (I use the term loosely as I wouldn’t say any of us are exactly friendly. Though, oddly enough, the Paladin seems to have taken quite an interest in me. More on her later.) we decided it would be wise if we split up and did as much investigating as possible to gather research about Harrowstone prison.

I made for the Church of Pharasma and spoke to Father Grimbarrow. It seemed to me that if one wanted records of everyone who had lived and died in Harrowstone during the fire, that would be the best place to look. I learned much about the prisoners who had last been held there. Though it took most of the day to recover that knowledge and two of the five proved difficult to locate…

I worked straight through lunch and was very nearly asked to leave I’m sure. The only thing that saved me from such an embarrassment was the greater one of my stomach rumbling nearly as loud as dragon… I met up with the others for dinner and we discussed what we found over drinks and steaks at the Laughing Demon.

We were beset upon by a group of stirges shortly after our meal however, and that surely put a damper on our joviality. Not only that but I had the most horrible night mare and awoke just a short time ago to a grisly after image of my name written in blood on the wall. All but the last few letters were there… I do not know what is happening but I fear it may well prove deadly for at least myself, if not others…

Regarding my companions, they are quite an intriguing group I must say. All of them are far to good natured for my overall liking, but I suppose that is to be expected. In Ustalav especially it seems as though good and evil are the ever present viewpoints…
*Kasumi hails from exotic Tian, though I do not know much more about her. She is beautiful and smart, however…
*The Paladin, Zhi is quite exotic and there is something about her that I can’t put my finger on… She reminds me of someone though… As I mentioned earlier, she has taken a liking to me and seems to be keen on us becoming fast friends. She is nice enough, and I appreciate her allowing me to share her room tonight after the fright I had. I think it isto my benefit to endear myself to her and the others as well as I can…
*Zandu… What can I say about him? He is quite strikingly good looking, though he seems to be more excited by the prospect of learning then he is by any flesh and blood creature. He’s a bit of an elitist when it comes to magic, somehow he got interested in words and the power behind them, and has since taken up the study of ancient words. This of course makes his spell book absolutely useless to me… Still, he is a font of knowledge. And his master did create Amrin for me…

3rd of Lamashan

I very nearly made the mistake of alerting my companions to my darker nature… But the children’s skipping song was just so adorably charming, how could I ignore it? It was a little rhyming ditty made up about the five prisoners of Harrowstone… and seemed a grim reminder of the job we were given by Lorrimor.

We decided to venture down into the tomb he had mentioned in his journal and retrieve the items it held. Apparently our mentor thought it best to have protection from undead, so we intended to do the same. The church sent two of its acolytes with us on our mission and we easily dispatched the creatures housed with in and came away with our prize.

To celebrate, we met once more in the Laughing Demon and I ended up performing for everyone there. I sang, told bawdy and grisly fairy stories that had everyone hooting, cheering and joining in with their own drunken scenarios. By the end of the night Zhi, Kasumi and I were all a little tipsy and decided to weave our way back to the Inn.

This was to be a long night, however… An undead scourge ravaged the poor town of Ravengro and we came face to face, as it were, with the person responsible for the grisly message on the shrine… Poor Kendra was forced to bury her father yet again, and Zandu nearly lost his life before the night was over, but we all survived.

We have been invited to a town meeting tomorrow, which shocked us all, since we haven’t had the most warm of welcomes in the town.

4th of Lamashan

I spent most of today in my room brewing potions. It has been so long since I’ve sat over my cauldron and watched it bubble and churn…

I finished just in time to have a bite to eat and then make my way to the Town Hall for the meeting. It started out about as I had expected. The townsfolk were all questions and fears, with no helpful suggestions or ideas…

One of the council members called their attention and informed them, and us, that he had hired us to investigate the goings on. Well, you can imagine our shock of course… But when he called us up on the stage and whispered quietly that he was sorry to have sprung it on us but the townsfolk just put him a tight place well…

I smiled my best smile and went along with the ruse. I even had the chance to make a nice little speech to the townsfolk which I thought went over rather well… The councilman started to speak again and then…

Fire erupted throughout the entire gathering place. I was able to call the people’s attention and get them to start filing out of the gathering hall in an orderly fashion (I tried for calm as well, but I suppose that was a little much to expect, given the circumstances). It took us such a long time to put out the flames… The solid wood building was lovely but, as you can well imagine wood and fire get along rather too well for our liking.

We managed to salvage most of the building and all of the archives though, and not a single person was too badly injured in the fire. I call it a win, personally.

I plan on spending at least a day or two in town researching some more spells and preparing myself for a foray into the possibly haunted, probably cultist infested Harrowstone. Just a few more days, and then I will set foot on that ground. The memory of that dream still lingers and I feel as if I have already been there before…

5th of Lamashan

Socothbenoth be praised!! I cannot believe my good fortunes!!! To think, of all the small town stores of arcane knowledge, here, in tiny little Ravengro I found a personal, veritable gold mine!!

In The Unfurling Scroll, tucked away in a back corner, I found a Manual of Flesh Golem creation! When I asked the old mage who runs this store/academy about it he said he suspected it had been stolen and that I could take it, since I was headed towards the person who owned it!!

Well, I may just “accidentally” forget about it when we get there… I mean, what are the chances I will ever find another copy of this? And in pristine condition!!? The spells are still intact!

I feel as though Ambrin must when he gets particularly fresh and tasty eyes all to himself…

6th of Lamashan

The storm! Oh how it howls and rages… We had thought to head out to Harrowstone today, but have had to wait at least another day, maybe two until this wicked weather blows over.

I do wish I was at Victor’s castle with him now… Between his bedroom proclivities and his expansive library I am never bored on a stormy day…

7th of Lamashan

I am not sure I am enamoring myself to the others as well as I had hoped. At least, I haven’t seemed to have been able to prove myself very well in combat. My trainer would be ashamed of me…

I did find a few interesting samples of a Xtabay plant, one of which I had sent to Victor in the hopes he can perhaps create one for his garden… The others I have kept. The pollen can be used to make a potent sleep drought…

We explored the grounds of the prison today, and will venture back tomorrow to begin investigating the inside.

I remain hopeful that we will be successful in this endeavor and that all be explained… Though at this rate, it may just be wishful thinking…

8th of Lamashan

Our exploration of the inner workings of the prison shall take much longer than we had first thought. There are many unquiet and restless spirits attached to this place, as one might well imagine. The feel of it is much like a crypt, somber and oppressing. I am glad I can retreat back to the tavern every night for levity, good food and drink, else I fear I could well loose my heart’s connection to the Silken Sin…

As it is, I have found precious little to occupy my desires. Zandu looks to be fast becoming a bit of a Masochist; I have suggested to him he could find the answers he seeks with the talented priestesses and priests of Calistria. Let them wet his appetites for this more, and fully realize some his depraved desires before I let him here the silken song of my lord…

Kisumi does not seem to have any desires; or if she does indeed she is both well versed at hiding them from others and fully capable of taking care of them herself. There has surely been little room for me to gauge her thoughts on this however…

The only one of my companions whom I might be able to slake my needs with is the Paladin, and I fear she is not quite up to the task of satiating my full lust… She has a goodness in her, and I think it might well provoke her to see me defame another good deity’s holy words in such a manner.

No, I shall have to continue my prayers in solitude, until I am once again in Victor’s cold, inviting embrace. Oh how I long to feel his teeth on my neck once more. Just the thought of it sends shivers up my spine and sets my very soul ablaze. Allowing him to feast on my life force while he thrusts inside me… I’ve never known such utter bliss… I’m sure Socothbenoth understands the draw of this particular passion…

I seem to have gotten off track. We were able to explore perhaps half of the ground floor before calling it a day. Zandu, the clever if obsessed young man, seems intent on reading every scrap of dusty parchment found within the offices… Poor Riff was stuck lugging many of the boxes of papers out to the carriage… I eventually had to tell him we couldn’t take it all with us.

Several of the rooms seemed to have been left with some sort of spiritual trap. As if the room was a spirit longing to exact some sort of revenge… I kept my wits about me throughout much of our explorations and even though I felt what seemed to be the chill touch of death itself several times, I never wavered in my convictions… At least until the hospital ward. The malevolent spirit housed within, inside a whirlwind of surgical instruments and syringes was too much for will to withstand.